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Raiders of the Lost Mayan Cave

johnnychimpo

By johnnychimpo,
in Belize

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Bellfree Bat

Bellfree Bat

Posted
Posted
Hi Ruth and Charlie,

 

I am actually cruising on the Dream in May and was checking out some of the posts about the excursions.

 

I looked at your photos and have to say they are amazing. We also scuba dive and I am currently looking for a new camera. If you don't mind me asking....what dive camera and lights are you using?

 

Thank you,

Michelle

 

Michelle: Nothing special. Charlie uses a Panasonic Lumix in a dive housing. The Lumix does have underwater setting and there is also some processing done at home for color correction.

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adventuregrrl

adventuregrrl

Posted
Posted
We just did this excursion a couple weeks ago and had a blast. Extremely safety conscious operator and would do it again in a heartbeat!

 

This link has pics from our trip including some on this tour.

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/digitalbats/Dec2009#

 

Your pictures are awesome! Thanks for sharing. Raiders looks like great fun.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
fruitbat

fruitbat

Posted
Posted
Really?

 

I saw people doing it on our hiking tour in St. Martten a few years back, looked fun, and safe... but it was a different place, so maybe... the highest up they were was maybe 10 feet. Mexico may have been different.

 

 

Yeah, I did that and broke my leg. Doesn't matter how high up you are, it's how you stop :eek:

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Bellfree Bat

Bellfree Bat

Posted
Posted
I will be with the group from the Liberty of the Seas. If anyone else is going on March 10th let me know! I was kind of apprehensive at first but everyone's posts seem to make me feel less nervous.

I was on the Liberty in Dec when I went on this tour. I was really nervous too but really did not need to be. Bak-a-Bush is so safety concious that you will have no problem. I would do it again in a heartbeat!

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bcs819

bcs819

Posted
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What was the tragic accident on the cave tubing? I was looking into doing that excursion but may think otherwise depending on what happened.

 

a woman drowned. We happened to be there that day. Book with cave-tubing.com. We were safe the whole time. You can click on my review of the Glory in Sept 08. for details. There were other tours there that were out of control. NOt our guys, I would go again in a heartbeat.

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JeremyK

JeremyK

Posted
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I'm going on my first cruise in June and was looking this tour over.

 

I am really interested in seeing some Mayan ruins, do you see any on this trip at all? If not, would someone recommend a ruins run over this, and if so which one?

 

Also if you had to choose between this and Cave Tubing?

 

Thanks!

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adventuregrrl

adventuregrrl

Posted
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I am really interested in seeing some Mayan ruins, do you see any on this trip at all? If not, would someone recommend a ruins run over this, and if so which one?

 

Also if you had to choose between this and Cave Tubing?

 

Thanks!

 

You don't see Mayan ruins on this tour, but you do see some Mayan cave carvings. We saw the Mayan ruins on our Costa Maya stop and really enjoyed them.

 

We thought about cave tubing, but ended up splitting up with one of us doing this excursion and the other one of us doing the catamaran reef snorkel. We both had a great time!

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  • 4 months later...
burm

burm

Posted
Posted
We just did this excursion a couple weeks ago and had a blast. Extremely safety conscious operator and would do it again in a heartbeat!

 

This link has pics from our trip including some on this tour.

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/digitalbats/Dec2009#

 

Thank you so much for sharing your "step-by-step" photos of the tour. It really gives us a good idea of what would be in store for us.

 

What is the rappelling part like? Does it require any special skill or do they just basically lower you by cable? Could a little old lady do it? :D Likewise, would the free fall part be risky for not too young bones?

 

A few years ago I zip lined in Argentina. When you reached the end of the line you pretty much did a short bunjee jump off the tree. Is it like that?

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Tigergenesis

Tigergenesis

Posted
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The rappelling wasn't anything to get too excited about. You didn't really rappel down the side of rockwork. You pretty much just took an elevator ride down to the next level...minus the elevator. It wasn't that far or anything physical - just sit in the harness and they lower you down.

 

The 2 zip lines were pretty short, but still fun. You zipped right down to another platform.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this excursion and would recommend it.

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burm

burm

Posted
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The rappelling wasn't anything to get too excited about. You didn't really rappel down the side of rockwork. You pretty much just took an elevator ride down to the next level...minus the elevator. It wasn't that far or anything physical - just sit in the harness and they lower you down.

 

The 2 zip lines were pretty short, but still fun. You zipped right down to another platform.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this excursion and would recommend it.

 

Thanks, you have reassured me about the rappelling part. What about the free fall? Is there much jarring?

 

How small are the small spaces you crawl through? Every time they tell me I will be crawling through small spaces I am invariably disappointed. They never seem to be enough of a challenge. Neither of us is remotely close to the 265 pound maximum.

 

I am quite excited about this tour now. We were going to do the cave tubing but this sounds much more interesting.

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burm

burm

Posted
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no jarring at all...the 'free fall' part of the rappelling is short - over before you know it. The small spaces aren't too tight that you fear you'll be stuck, but you certainly have to be aware of yourself.

 

Thanks for the helpful info. This tour sounds intriguing and within my capabilities. :)

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  • 4 weeks later...
burm

burm

Posted
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I'm still trying to pick between this and the cave tubing. Anyone done both?

 

It is a tough decision. We had already booked a private guide for cave tubing before I learned about Raiders of the Lost Mayans.

 

My major concern with this excursion is that we will be on a small ship and most passengers are not young. This would probably be the first excursion to be cancelled. :(

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markstudy

markstudy

Posted
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It is a tough decision. We had already booked a private guide for cave tubing before I learned about Raiders of the Lost Mayans.

 

My major concern with this excursion is that we will be on a small ship and most passengers are not young. This would probably be the first excursion to be cancelled. :(

 

Who did you get for a private guide? How many in your party.

 

My main concern with both choices is that I don't like big groups. I'll pay extra to not feel rushed or crowed.

 

Yeah I know what you mean about canceled trips. With a 90 minute bus ride, if they don't have enough people they aren't going to want to pay for the gas. :mad:

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burm

burm

Posted
Posted
Who did you get for a private guide? How many in your party.

 

My main concern with both choices is that I don't like big groups. I'll pay extra to not feel rushed or crowed.

 

Yeah I know what you mean about canceled trips. With a 90 minute bus ride, if they don't have enough people they aren't going to want to pay for the gas. :mad:

 

There are only 2 of us so far. We have an extremely quiet Roll Call. :( No matter. I would not want more than 6 on our private tour anyway and we are just fine with 2. We are booked with Cynthia (and Nacho).

 

Ideally, I hope that we can interest one more couple.

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tinabinab

tinabinab

Posted
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My group of 4 did this last week and it was fun! We were the only ship in port and there were 27 people total on the tour. We were broken up into three smaller groups. I'm a slightly big girl, but I workout regularly and nothing was "challenging" about this tour. The caves are actually pretty spacious, the "crawl" spaces are not too bad. There were two where you could squat and walk or hunch over to get through. Only one place do I remember actually getting down low on my hands and feet (not knees) and walking through. (Sorta like climbing a horizontal ladder.) I'm a bit claustrophobic as well and it wasn't bad. Heights are not much either; there are only two zip lines and neither was very long or high. The faux-rappelling was maybe 20 ft and the rope bridges are maybe 3 ft high (just over some rugged areas within the cave).

 

It was a great tour overall! (Though I do question the validity of the "Mayan" part of the presentation, but I guess it made for a good story...) You'll have a great time! We saw some people paying as much as $45 for their pictures. Don't be that guy. We got ours for $20.

 

I know we could have booked this tour independently for $30 less, but it was a lengthy tour and being a tender port, it was worth the cost for my peace of mind to book through the cruiseline. Just my .02. We returned to the port with only an hour to spare...

 

Here's a link to our "Raiders" pictures:

 

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=1ed0e0b41f01ed03d33ce936de451066&sid=8MYtXLhuyY4s

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markstudy

markstudy

Posted
Posted
My group of 4 did this last week and it was fun!

 

Thanks for the great report :)

 

I love the photo of the zip-line inside the cave. Can you post a larger photo?

 

Did they take that photo for you? You got a lot of great color in your photos, what camera did you use?

 

Thanks again

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